Santiago Calatrava

Nice one ..I must give it a gander

I had a good look around at the Bridge on Monday (Sunny Day) and I was quite impressed, the quality and finish is superb, design is interesting and pedestrians are well catered for.

I can’t agree with some of the negative comments on another discussion thread at all, the bridge highlights the drabness of the surrounding 90’s apartment blocks but it could hardly be argued that the bridge should drably fit in with the apartments, the bridge will be around long after the blocks are pulled down.

sorry for my ignorance…where is this bridge???

and thanks kefu. will be watching that

Originally posted by FIN
sorry for my ignorance…where is this bridge???

At the intersection of blackhall place and the quays. Down near the Guinness brewery. I think the below link should work.
http://www.maporama.com/share/Map.asp?ADDRESS=usher%27s+island&CITYCODE=18691445&CITYNAME=Dublin&ZIPCODE=&XgoPointX=23295&XgoPointY=2961364&XgoSetLogicalScale=3&AREACODE=I1&NumberCurrentStep=0&SESSIONID={A47195DE-578C-48D7-BE3C-A0DABF4E7D13}

thanks brianf.
is this the bridge that’s in the indo today???

Don’t have access to an indo today! But if it was a big white arched bridge, then thats the one. There was some good linkage to photos and websites in a previous thread on this subject:
https://archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?threadid=2003

I had a bit of a walk-about on it last week and must say I was very impressed. I think it will look great once it is opened. The pedestrian areas are much larger than I thought, although it will be interesting to see what sort of use they get (if the bridge was in the region of the boardwalk, it would be a nice place to sit and a nice “extension” of the boardwalk, although there is no room for a new bridge down there). That area of the quays doesnt really get very much pedestrian traffic at all.

it’s the one alright. got an email from here with the story. looks really good alright. but there is something about it being over budget. now there is a suprise. i know it’s on another thread but the way every gov. project goes over budget is a joke. but when is it supposed to be oopen to the public?

It’s official name will be James Joyce Bridge – i think

Taken today:
http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/bridges/james_joyce.html

I have to swallow the bile and say it looks really classy there. Those sweeping lines and shadows are great.
But then you can’t see the buildings in the backround or even water- its all design and no context…….I live to hate another day.

I think this argument about the building stock surrounding the bridge is a bit of a red herring. Like all our bridges, the James Joyce is here to stay. A streetscape more in tune with the city the bridge aspires to can be developed in time. It will look a bit of a mess for a while but I think the bridge will set a bench mark for design in the area.

Just been down to the official opening and I have to say its a great addition to the city. Fuck the begrudgers. Its a fabulous bridge to walk across or sit on and is incredibly photogenic – so photogenic that you don’t notice the dross that OUR GENERATION has let be constructed on the quays.

Loads more photos tomorrow when the film comes back….

I like:
the way the pedestrians are “protected” from the road traffic, the pedestrian walkways are separated from the main bridge bed. In effect it is like three bridges;
the opaque glass walkways and they way the light defracts through them onto the water surface;
the way you can lean comfortably against the railings and look at the river between the pedestrians and the roadway.

Also the lighting is integral to the design and easily accessible for replacement but not for vandalism.

This bridge is the Jennifer Lopez of Dublins bridges whereas the Matt Talbot memorial bridge might be the Dana of Dublins bridges.

Very impressive in the flesh I might add,and oh so pleasing on the eye. The rest of town looks drab after seeing this beauty.

Now now, Matt Talbot is’nt all that bad, it was the 70s after all. I think it is very sleek, slender and unobtrusive, although the road & paving leaves much to be desired.

The James Joyce is beautiful.

Thanks RTE for showing your usual contempt for architectural issues and dumping the documentary into the graveyard hours, always reliable. Indeed a REPEAT of the ‘State We’re In’ is being shown before it, such is the ignorance. If it was a minority interest religious production it would be on at 10.00 or earlier.

Yesterday I was approached by a man who wished to talk to me while I was hanging around the bridge an hour before the opening. He pontificated at length on the waste of money and why it had to look like that. I pointed out that “all bridges couldnt look like the fucking horrible Frank Sherwin bridge”

He looked at me and said quietly “I was an engineer on that bridge” and walked off.

😀

I agree……It was on around 1 am or something like that….it should have been on around eight instead to help educate the masses and drop Eastenders and all the other regular banal drivel.
The bridge looks brilliant and it is a great landmark……Let’s hope now they get their fingers out and build the other Calatrava bridge further down the quays.

But not only that, also build the proposed pedestrian bridge from Marlborough Street to Hawkins street as well as rebuild the loop line bridge.
Then we would have a very impressive collection of bridges in Dublin.

The Loop Line? why rebuild it?

A good clean, and remove all of the advertising would be enough.

I read on the Irish Times yesterday that the Macken St bridge probably won’t start ’till 2005 at the earliest, Pity!!

You’re right Graham, the Matt Talbot isn’t bad.
While I may have implied I considered it bad, my comparison was more a reference to a sign
‘o the times. Both women and bridges are indeed good-looking and both represent their eras well. Joyce and Talbot were contempories and could easily have represented the conservative versus liberal thinking of their day. At last we have a fitting memorial to the great Joyce and a tribute to his broad mind.

My only reply, to it is read this: There’s a very interesting phenomenon right now in our communities where collecting architecture is becoming a medal of status.

http://www.arcadejournal.com/v21_1txt7.html

…….and the red light area is just up the road from it too where ye have strumpets of all varieties…..wea hey!

Yep that’s true ….but we have a long long way to go before our collection is of any significance

2005 for the Macken St bridge wouldn’t be too bad at all!!, Hopefully they learned from the James Joyce bridge experience and can keep to budget and schedule!!!

what did ppl think of the documentary? i managed to stay awake til the end.

thought his thesis was interesting. great imagination but one gets the sense its all done for its own sake. and the pretense of decorating your own home with your own amazing works is astonishing. nice angle with the spines, but is he thinking of himself as a modern day leonardo?

Congratulations to Dublin once more!
Dublin should be proud of it’s efforts to make the urban setting both beautiful and modern. The Spire and now the James Joyce Bridge are both examples for other cities in Europe to follow. We are eagerly awaiting the next bridge across the Liffy down at the Docklands and the extention of the walkways along the Liffy. Good luck on your urban improvement!

As SW101 says …..I think he is thinking of himself as a modern day Leonardo…I thought that too…….but the work and the structures that he has produced are quite characteristically Calatravesque and unique. See that roof …what a feat of engineering…..will we ever see the like here in Ireland….I doubt it.
His creative processes are initially childish I thought….like the sketch outlines of the hand …the eye drawings, etc….. but the final works are that of a master. Whatever it takes I suppose; playful exercises for the mind to get the creative juices flowing.
His scuptural works were quite brilliant too.

Thanks Ivar for the nice comments ….many people in Dublin, Ireland would like to see many more great eyecatching building projects.

‘That roof’ presumably referring to the train station, in which case WOW!

Was’nt it exquisite, and for once it wasnt crudly utilitarian with great beams visible etc, it was delicate & light and spectacular at night.

Its one of the most beautiful modern structures I’ve ever seen.

It’s interesting how not a million miles away it is from a lot of our Victorian roofs at stations, elegantly perched atop columns which flow into each other via curved brackets.

(Admittedly I was half unconcious towards the end as well)